Legal Roundup: New Bill Mandates Treatment for Drug Offenders; Historic Harada House case reenacted

Here’s a roundup of recent legal stories affecting Riversiders from our friends at Follow Our Courts, who cover legal news in the Inland Empire:

• Mandatory treatment programs for drug offenders placed on probation will no longer be up to a judge’s discretion under a newly signed bill authored by Sen. Richard Roth and sponsored by the Riverside District Attorney. The bill will take effect on January 1, 2024.
• The Commission on Judicial Performance publicly admonished a former Riverside family law commissioner after finding she violated nine judicial canons when she was combative and disrespectful to two litigants.
• California’s new compulsory mental health treatment program began in Riverside County on October 2. Riverside is one of seven counties in the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment Court pilot program.
• Attorneys reenacted the 1918 discrimination case People v. Harada for students. The suit involved the due process rights of a Japanese-American family that had bought a house at 3356 Lemon St., just a mile north of Riverside’s Historic Courthouse.
• A pair of attorneys have filed their fifth case this year against Riverside County for the deaths of inmates.
• Joel Ombao, the owner of an unlicensed Riverside senior care center at the intersection of Van Buren Boulevard and Audrey Street, was found guilty on four counts of cruelty to the elderly.

Follow Our Courts reports on cases, legislation, and courthouse happenings in the Inland Empire at followourcourts.com.